YC-backed AI startup Pivot Robots raises funding from NuVentures

Pivot Robots, founded last year by two Carnegie Mellon University graduates Siddharth Girdhar and Vignesh Rajmohan, uses artificial intelligence to power automation in the manufacturing sector

Early-stage investor NuVentures has backed US-based AI startup Pivot Robots, marking its latest investment in AI-first startups. NuVentures backed the AI testing and compliance platform RagaAI last year.

Pivot Robots didn’t reveal the amount it has raised. Founded last year by two Carnegie Mellon University graduates Siddharth Girdhar and Vignesh Rajmohan, the firm uses artificial intelligence to power automation in the manufacturing sector. Girdhar and Rajmohan earlier worked with AI and robotics teams at companies such as Meta, Google and Uber.

The startup has also raised funding from Y Combinator (as part of its 2024 cohort) and a US-based fund.

Pivot Robots uses AI vision control software to automate industrial robots, addressing the labour shortage in manufacturing in the US. Its first product is designed to address the task of grinding metal parts.

“Pivot Robots is making software to help manufacturers automate some of their most labour-intensive and dangerous tasks, starting with the castings industry,” co-founder Siddharth Girdhar said. “We are excited to partner with NuVentures because they provide us with support in finding customers and talent across both the US and India, which are both manufacturing hubs,” he added.

Girdhar had also designed multi-agent algorithms for warehouse robots at Nimble Robotics. Rajmohan had also researched large language model (LLM) applications for robotics in the Atkeson Lab.

Pivot Robots said its AI vision control software puts the startup’s technology ahead of traditional robotic automation, giving industrial robots the ability to adapt.

“In Siddharth Girdhar and Vignesh Rajmohan, I found two passionate entrepreneurs who had a clear vision and a disruptive way to improve efficiency in the manufacturing sector,” said Venk Krishnan, founder of NuVentures. “I believe that most of the innovations in AI will come out of the top institutions in the US and India where a lot of research is done.”

NuVentures, set up by NuWare founder Venk Krishnan, was among the first backers of companies such as Mu Sigma and Acko. It counts startups such as Pocket Aces, Foxtale, Geist Beer and Third Wave among its over 40 portfolio firms. NuVentures also has Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and Mu Sigma founder Dhiraj Rajaram among its advisors.